2016 Bollinger B16 Blanc de Noir Champagne

The 2016 Bollinger B16 Blanc de Noir Champagne earned 94 points from Antonio Galloni and 94 from Kristaps Karklins.

From a relatively cool, mildew-pressured year that did not deliver sufficient fruit for Ay to serve as the principal component - and thus precluded the making of La Grande Annee - Bollinger instead opted to release the 2016 B16. Disgorged in November 2024 with a dosage of four grams per liter, the wine unwinds in the glass with aromas of yellow apple, mirabelle plum, honeysuckle and bergamot mingled with freshly baked bread and a faint hint of passion fruit. Full-bodied and elegantly muscular, the palate offers a rich, sweet core of fruit, racy acids and an animating pinpoint mousse, concluding with a long, enveloping finish. Vinified entirely in barrels, it comprises 27% Chardonnay and 73% Pinot Noir - principally from Bouzy, Tauxieres, Verzy and Verzenay - and will reward additional aging on cork. - Kristaps Karklins, Wine Advocate (94 pts)